HUNDREDS of people enjoyed the first Southbourne Community Carnival on Saturday night.

Families lined the route along Southbourne Grove, running from the Woodside Car Park to the Overcliff, featuring a huge procession of residents dressed in colourful costumes such as Minions, Spiderman, Ghostbusters and more.

Take a look at our gallery of pictures of the carnival here.

They carried handcrafted paper lanterns to light the way as they danced along the road as music played to the delight of those watching.

The finale of the event featured a beacon of light on the cliff top near Cafe Riva, before children and their families could enjoy a music and lights show on Fisherman’s Walk.

Lauren Tomkins, a member of the carnival's organising committee, said: "The whole idea was to make a dark November evening bright and colourful.

"We really wanted to create a buzz about Southbourne and I think we did that. I walked down the high street before the parade started and there were hundreds along the route."

She said that the event had taken around a year to organise, with the support of residents, schools, local businesses and the Big Lottery Fund who provided a £10,000 grant for the carnival.

"It was lovely working with people who share the same vision. It is very much a community event with the youngest and oldest residents taking part."

Groups who were part of the parade included Sunrise Senior Living, St Peter's School, Stourfield Junior School, the Brownies, Scouts, Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club, the East Dorset Motorcycle Action Group and Emmanuel Church.

Announcements for the floats were made by Cllr Chris Mayne, deputy mayor of Bournemouth and she said that music was kindly provided free-of-charge by local bands.

Louise said that the event was so successful that they will bring it back for 2016, with hopes that it will be even bigger and better than this year.